Motlow College Athletic History
Athletics has been an important part of the college experience at Motlow since the school opened in 1969. The Bucks and Lady Bucks have consistently competed on a championship level in baseball, softball, men's basketball, and women's basketball.
Motlow College competes as a member of the
Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) and the
National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
The college athletic program will begin a new era in 2013 with a new athletic director and a new men's basketball coach. Motlow continues to produce the best student athletes both in the classroom and in competition.
Motlow College began its athletic program at the inception of the college in 1969 with only one sport, men's basketball. Baseball was added one year later, and in 1973, women's basketball joined the ranks of collegiate athletics. Softball became a reality in 1993 in an effort to enhance the Bucks and Lady Bucks program.
Men's golf and women's tennis each had a very successful but short-lived time as sports at Motlow, and were discontinued for various reasons.
Men's Basketball
It is impossible to reflect on the past, or project the future of Motlow's athletic program, without recalling the people who made it happen. Reflection begins with coach
Joe Daves, the initial coach at the helm of men's basketball. Coach Daves' nine-year stint established the Bucks as a competitive team throughout the TCCAA as well as the NJCAA. His team won back-to-back TCCAA Eastern Division titles in 1971-72 and 1972-73, and the 72-73 team was Motlow's first championship team as it won both the regular season and the tournament crown. He compiled a record of 135-117.
Daves recruited a number of players who are still considered among the greatest in Motlow history, including All-Americans Jack Battle, Bob Martin and Billy Holt. The three, along with assist and steals leader Larry Mackin, still hold many of the school's all time single season and career records. Billy Holt was named an All-Amercian for the Bucks following the 1977-78 season.
Coach
Charlie Codgill followed Daves as head men's basketball coach during the 1978-79 season and his team finished with a 14-11 record in his lone season at the helm.
Carr McCalla took over the reigns in 1979 and led the Bucks for six seasons, winning 65% of his games and compiling an outstanding 107-58 record. He returned Motlow to championship status, leading the program to two TCCAA Region VII championships during the 1981-82 and the 1983-84 seasons. McCalla, who became Motlow's athletic director from 1986-94, recruited All-American Mike Dailey and coached point guard Joe Gaskins, who followed him as head coach of the Bucks.
Joe Gaskins, who played for McCalla and is second all-time in career assists at Motlow, became one of the youngest head coaches in the nation when he was named head coach before the 1985-86 season. He rallied the Bucks to finish as co-division champions during his first season. Coach Gaskins led the Bucks from 1985-90 and compiled a 96-48 record. His 1987-88 team won 25 games, setting a new school record that lasted until 2008, and won 16 straight games which remains the all-time high. He recruited all-time leading scorer Tim Fant, who averaged 26.7 points per game and was named an All-American his second season.
Frank Cole took the helm of the Bucks from 1990 until 1998, compiling a record of 128 victories against 98 defeats during his eight seasons. His first team averaged a school record 94.9 points per game, and he recruited All-American John Gales, who remains the third leading career scorer in Motlow history.
Lonnie Thompson took the reigns of the Bucks in 1998 and led the team to three consecutive Eastern Division titles before exiting in 2002. His 2001-02 team tied the school record with 25 wins.
Jeff Johnson led the Bucks program from 2002-06.
Bobby Steinburg took over the reigns before the 2006-2007 season, staying two seasons and compiling a 40-20 overall record while leading the 2007-2008 team to a 28-5 record, the most wins in school history. Steinburg recruited some of the greatest players in Bucks' history, including Tyree Evans, Demarco Steptor, Frank Henry-Ala and Cliff Dixon.
Mike Brown coached one season at Motlow and led the Bucks to a 22-8 record in 2008-2009 and the regular season TCCAA championship. Brown was rewarded by being named the TCCAA Coach of the Year, and his top recruit Tim Williams was named an All-American following the season and co-MVP of the conference.
Jerry Nichols guided the Bucks from 2009-2013 and produced four of the most successful consecutive seasons in school history. Nichols achieved an 80-31 record, including TCCAA regular season championships in 2011 and 2013 and a TCCAA/Region VII Tournament championship and trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in 2013. Nichols was named TCCAA coach of the year both seasons. Nichols was named Athletic Director of the college in the summer of 2011 and remained in that role until his departure in 2013. Freddie Goldstein, a member of Nichol's first two teams, is the only Motlow player to be named All-American in both of his seasons.
Women's Basketball
Eight former coaches have set the tone for women's basketball in Lady Bucks country during the previous 40 years. The women's program began in 1973 under the leadership of Coach
Pat Sarver, who built the program from scratch and coached the first two season of play, compiling a 23-19 record.
Coach Sarver established a standard of excellence for the program from the beginning, recruiting outstanding players who still hold high positions in the Motlow record book. Karen Carter played from 1974-76 and had an outstanding career, averaging 17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. She was named as the Lady Bucks' first All-American following her sophomore season.
Jackie Koss then led the Lady Bucks for eight years from 1976 to 1984. Koss took the young program to new heights, including a combined record of 42-9 from 1977-79. Her Lady Bucks teams went 111-57 during her time at the helm, and included Motlow's second All-American. Aljeanette Bramlett is one of only two Lady Bucks in history to average over 20 points per game during her career.
Coaches Daves (1984-85),
Jackie Reavis (1985-86), and
Johnny Hill (1986-88) served one and two-year terms, respectively, followed by
Gary Vanatta's single season which ended in 1989.
Mike Holt, who played for Motlow from 1975-77, then led the program from 1989 through the 1996-97 season and assembled a 118-87 overall record. Holt coached the greatest team in Lady Bucks history during the 1989-90 season, a team that set the school record for wins with 27, including 18 in a row. All American Roschelle Vaughn had the greatest single season of any player in school history, averaging 25.2 points and 13.4 rebounds per game.
Karen Serra took the reigns of the women's basketball program in 1997 after a successful stint at Portland, TN high school. Serra spent 14 seasons at the helm of the Lady Bucks, developing a consistent, competitive program and completing her tenure with a 226-231 overall record. Serra's 2004-05 team won 25 games and included All-Americans Leanne Pelham and T'Qwanda Pendergrast.
Jerry Nichols served as the interim women's coach during the 2011-2012 season, compiling an 11-13 record.
In July 2012 Motlow announced the hiring of
Aaron Holland as its ninth women's basketball coach. Holland came to Lynchburg from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Ark., where he worked for head coach John Brady for five years. Holland's first team went 4-21 in 2012-13, but a strong recruiting class raises expectations for the coming season.
Baseball
Baseball got underway in 1970 under Coach
Joe Johnson, who won only two games in his single season.
The spring sport continued the next three years under the leadership of Coach
John Stanford, who established the program as a consistent conference contender by winning the conference and being named Coach of the Year in 1972. Catcher Eddie Daves became Motlow's first baseball All-American that same season. Stanford went 48-31 in his three years as head coach.
Coach
Jackie Reavis then took the reigns from 1974 to 1982, winning 71 percent of his games and compiling a sparkling 261-107 record. His 1975 team still holds the school record with a .818 winning percentage (27-6), and his Bucks teams won Eastern Division titles in 1974, 78, 79 and 81. In a pitcher's era, Reavis recruited some of the best in Motlow history. Among them was Mark Shuler, who set a school record with 11 wins that was not broken until 2000. Shulter became Motlow's first 1st-Team All-American in 1978. John Stefero played at Motlow in 1979 and became the first Motlow alumnus to play in the major leagues.
Bucks baseball then experienced turbulence for the next four years, when the baseball program was non-existent.
Johnny Hill, who played for Motlow in 1973-75 and was an assistant coach in 1981, revitalized the program in 1987 and led the team for two seasons. Hill was 53-46 during those two seasons and recruited Moltow's most famous baseball player. David Weathers played for the Bucks in 1988 and went on to enjoy an 18-year major league career that included one World Series title with the Yankees. Weathers' jersey was retired by Motlow in 2011.
Don Rhoten took over in 1989 and won 664 games, including multiple state titles and a 2000 trip to the World Series, before retiring following the 2006 season. Although Rhoton's accomplishments are too many to mention, his teams won seven consecutive Eastern Division titles from 1994-2000. The 2000 team set a school record for wins with 57, including 17 in a row, and lost to San Jacinto, TX in the national championship final. Joshua Arteaga, Motlow's greatest offensive players, holds multiple career and single season batting records including home runs, runs batted in, hits and runs scored.
Rhoton recruited multiple players who earned All-American honors, including second teamers Jason Evans in 1995, Arteaga in 2000, Nathan Marty in 2003 and Bryan Morris in 2006. Morris has gone on to become Motlow's third former player to reach the major leagues, and he currently pitches for the Pittsburg Pirates.
Dan McShea took over the program to begin the 2007 season. He has compiled a 158-187-1 overall record in seven seasons, including a 27-23 overall mark in 2013. Sophomore Tyler Murphy set the all-time single season batting average record of .459 and was named a first-team All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association in 2012.
Softball
Women's softball is the most recent sport in the athletic lineup at Motlow College. Softball began in 1993 with coaches
Jackie Reavis and
Mike Holt leading the new venture.
Angela Tulley guided the program for two highly successful seasons in 1996 and 97, compiling a 58-25 record. Her 1997 team was the first Motlow softball squad to finish runner-up in the TCCAA tournament and starred current Lady Bucks head coach Tori Raby-Gentry.
Motlow alumnus
Gary Barfield began his tenure as softball coach prior to the 1998 season and compiled a sparkling 526-233 record in 14 seasons, including winning the TCCAA tournament championship in 2009 and advancing to the NJCAA National Tournament. Barfield also served as Motlow's Athletic Director prior to Nichols' appointment.
Barfield's 2001 team set a school record with 58 wins, and his former players hold almost every spot in the school record book. Barfield recruited all five of Motlow's All-American softball players, including Jo Sharp in 2000, Amanda Potuk in 2001, Tabitha Phelps in 2002 and 2004, Whitney Darlington in 2006 and Kayla Cole in 2009.
In June, 2011, former Lady Bucks star
Tori Raby-Gentry was named head softball coach. Coach Raby-Gentry came home to Motlow following a successful seven-year run as head coach at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, compiling a 202-154 record. The Lady Bucks are 37-54 during Raby-Gentry's first two seasons, but an experienced roster could signal significant improvement in 2014.
Support
We attribute much of our success to the long-time supporters of Motlow athletics. We tip our hats to these supporters because the Motlow program could not be what it is without them.
The Bucks and Lady Bucks basketball teams play at Copperweld Arena inside Nisbett Center. The Nisbett family has supported Motlow athletics since the college opened, and continues that support today. The Bucks baseball team's home field is the Driver Baseball Complex.
Motlow's student athletes represent themselves and the college well in the classroom, in the community, and in competition. Several of our student athletes have gone on to promising careers as professional athletes, coaches, and leaders. We believe their experiences at Motlow contributed to their success.
